Scheduling Exams in International Centres Policy

Policy for scheduling of examinations in international centres Quality Services and Governance

Who and what is this policy for: Because our exams are sat by students around the world, we create a schedule of start times across the different global time zones to keep exam content confidential. This policy explains our approach to achieving this, and is published as information for centres administering Pearson exams, students taking our exams, parents of students and any other relevant stakeholders.

September 2020 version 2.6 DCL 1: Public (Unclassified) Ratified by PUKLT November 2020

Pearson Education Ltd – Our Mission and Values Welcome to Pearson, the world's learning company. We have a simple mission: to help people make more of their lives through learning. Whether it's at home, in the classroom or in the workplace, learning is the key to improving our life chances. We are the UK's largest awarding body and we are regulated by Ofqual (England), SQA Accreditation (Scotland), CCEA Regulation (Northern Ireland) and Qualifications Wales (Wales). We offer academic and vocational qualifications that are globally recognised and benchmarked, with educational excellence rooted in names like Edexcel, BTEC, and LCCI. Our regulatory policies are integral to our approach and articulate in a consistent way how we meet regulatory requirements. These policies are designed to support centres and learners with the design, delivery and award of Pearson qualifications and services.

Contents

1. Scope of policy ...... 3 2. Policy statement ...... 3 3. Regulatory references ...... 3 4. Policy review date ...... 4

Policy for scheduling of examinations in international centres Owner Head of Regulation Authorised by Responsible Officer October 2020 version 2.6 DCL 1: Public (Unclassified) Ratified by PUKLT November 2020

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1. Scope of policy This policy applies to Pearson Edexcel GCSE, International GCSE, GCE and International Advanced Level (IAL) qualifications delivered outside of the United Kingdom. The start time of exams in the UK is excluded, as these are set separately with the Joint Council for Qualifications. These principles apply to other qualifications involving exam assessment, where relevant.

2. Policy statement The confidentiality of exam content is vital to ensure all users of our qualifications can have confidence in the validity and fairness of the assessment process and the results. As our exams are sat by students worldwide, we must create a schedule of start times across the different time zones to keep exam content confidential. For series based exams, all students around the world will sit the same exam on the same date. We’ll try to schedule the start time of exams in a way that doesn’t create an excessive administrative or logistical burden for schools, parents and students. Our aims in setting the start times of exams are: • To prevent the possibility of exam content being shared between individuals before all students have completed the exam. • To have clear exam start times for each session that are applied consistently in each time zone. • To limit the number of exams for which exam centres must arrange supervision of students before or after exams as far as possible. • To limit the number of hours between the first and last exam of each day, as far as possible. • To ensure that exam centres know the rules that need to be applied, so that they can plan the logistics of each exam series with confidence. • To consider the needs of the students and ensure that the timing of exams do not disadvantage them or create a barrier to achievement. The specific start times for exams in each time zone can be found on our International exam start times webpage. You will need to use our international examination start time documents for your region alongside the Find your exam date information for international centres. We monitor whether these rules are followed and will act where there’s evidence they are not being applied appropriately. Centres and candidates will be subject to our procedures for dealing with malpractice and maladministration if necessary.

3. Regulatory references UK regulators require all awarding organisations to establish and maintain their compliance with regulatory conditions and criteria. As part of this process, policies that relate to Pearson’s status as an awarding organisation will reference any conditions and criteria that they address.

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This policy addresses the following regulatory criteria and conditions:

Ofqual/CCEA Regulation/Qualifications Wales General Conditions of Recognition Maintaining the Confidentiality of Assessment Materials Condition G4.1

4. Policy review date October 2021.

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